Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose help renovating old pond

Hello, I'm new here so stick with me. I have an old pond by my house in Wisconsin, it is full of thick weeds I'm pretty sure are invasive and peat on the bottom. It's half an acre and maybe 8 feet deep. Also it's connected to a couple acres of swamp. I want to get the muck and weeds out and put in a windmill aerator. I plan on planting to be able to fish sticking BG RES LGMB HSB CC. Pond is already loaded with frogs bugs turtles birds sticklebacks ducks birds etc. It freezes out every year and the connecting swamp and shore is full of trees. Help please

If it winterkills every year, I'm not sure I would trust a windmill aerator to provide protection. Eight feet is too shallow for a Wisconsin pond, and last year I know of some deeper, Indiana waters that suffered winterkills while trying to rely on windmill aeration.

Depth is critical...any way to dig it out, or does the attached swamp make that unrealistic? Also, what species of fish live in the swamp? Whatever calls it home, will also end up in your pond, adding to the biomass and increasing the chances of winterkill.

Nothing big as far as fish and the swamp is like 5 acres and about 1-2 feet deep as as draining the pond that is unrealistic I'd think the windmill will do it but if not I'll try a different type of aerator but I'm trying to do it on a budget. Also i say winter kill loosely because it doesn't affect the frogs turtles and minnows.

Look up MNfish's posts about solar aerators. He might also be able to help you out with ideas. It seems like his ponds are shallow and is having success with them.

Here you go, did some searching for you:
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=413559&page=1

Thanks fish n chips what do you think about the fish species

I am not really that knowledgeable in making stocking suggestions, too many variables for each type of pond scenario, and all those variables need to be considered for success. I am thinking that RES won't make it because of the colder winters. Do they survive in other ponds near you? Perhaps pumpkinseeds if the RES can't make it.

Also, are you intending to feed?

I will be stocking minnows as far as feeding plan I'm avoiding it but i would feed if need be. The stocking would be #10 FHM maybe #10 shiners/50 LMB/25 HSB/300 BG/50 RES/50 CC. I know the minnows sound heavy so i think I'll dig and aerate this year and plant minnows then stock in spring

I Looked around and i think they will be fine but if they all die I'll try some pumpkinseed

I like your idea of planting the forage base and waiting till next spring for actual stocking. It will give you time to fine tune your ideas. I hope others jump in and help out with that part of it. My initial thoughts are that it seems like if you have LMB, they will eat all your FHM in a year or two, then the HSB will suffer for lack of food. That's why I asked about feeding. I also suspect that your LMB and CC numbers may be a bit high, and BG numbers a bit low. But then again, that is dependent on goals and region of pond.

Thanks I might cut the bass numbers in half and add fifty blue gill and feed them on a weekly basis

Also my main goal is a harvestable fishery

Also to dig it out i was going to use chemicals. Does anyone have any experience with it? I Looked into it and it sounds like i could solve the problem with grass carp and an aerator.

Would it help if i posted a pic of the pond?

I'm confused. Why stock at all if will winterkill? I'm not sure I would do stock without decreasing chance of that by deepening and putting in more dependable aeration system than windmill.

I'm not able to do much about deepening but i will be using a solar powered aeration system

How close is this pond to an electric source?

It's a stone's throw from my house

I had to read his post twice too. He says it has a spot 8 ft deep but then makes it sound like most of it is shallow. I have seen similar ponds and in most years probably wouldnt winter kill, but would be possible 1 in 10 years and if there is ever a drought probly 1 in 20 for sure, best case scenario. Just a possible thought there and nothing wrong with starting over once in a while too.

PondDragon if you really feel like you want to spend a lot of time and enjoy your pond, draining it and getting rid of some of your "peat" would increase that enjoyment in many ways.

5 acres is big though, but to even do a small core area would give your fish a safe haven and let you know a lot more about your pond.

Sounds like a fun project. keep lots of minnows in there and they will help keep the misqitos done. are they bad there?

sorry I have little experience with airriator and chemical in drainining a pond. I would say that for a more realistic vision of what that would do is not remove the debre but rather help turn peat into silt. a gain of inches not feet. SOme one with experience please correct me, but that is my understanding.

instead of draining have you thought of getting an excavator?

Yes the mosquitos do grow in there but the pond has a huge amount of back up water in the swamp. I've thought of draining it but i don't think i can even with a bad drought.
We just had a bit of a drought and the pond only went down a foot

I'll look but any dam would be holding the swamp water and releasing it wouldn't drain the pond

And fyi the aeration will be provided by a solar powered aerator with two diffusers

If the pond is that close, the best way to go is a normal aerator run by electric near your house and run the airline to the pond. It's going to be a lot cheaper/easier than any solar or windmill set up.

Alright but i thought that was expensive

Fish kills usually occur after several cloudy, windless days.

Reddy Kilowatt keeps that from happening.

So i should skip the solar and windmill and just plug it in

I would.

Ok ill do that

My first question is does the pond water level change? If not you may have a spring. I say that because I have a similar situation and also being in Wisconsin I have never had a winter kill. I did have a mild fish kill in summer before I added aeration. Cloudy days without wind will do it, The more plants in the water the bigger the concern. I can tell you that in my swamp there are several areas that will not freeze because of spring water. I'm not talking water gushing out of the ground, just slow seeps. These areas have never frozen over in the 20 plus years I have owned it. Even if you have a spring the water may have very little oxygen in it. You can't go wrong with adding aeration. I have two ponds that are connected by acres of cattails, each has a wind aerator. I have enough water flow that water flows out my control structure year around, which is why the fish survive. I use the wind aeration to keep the water from stratifying which is a whole new Topic. I think you should stock some fathead minnows right away and think about what else to stock in spring. And then add electric aeration to be safe.

Are you sure there are no fish in now? You may want to put a minnow trap in and see what you get.

Every pond is different so watch your pond and learn by asking questions here.

I will take this opportunity to thank all the members of this site for their help. They are the reason I have been successful with my ponds. Thank you all!